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There are typically more than a hundred or more research projects underway in the NPA at any one time, all addressing national needs and all focused on "Research Excellence: Meeting Customer Expectations." To find out more about these various projects, see below.

For a comprehensive look at a particular program, click on the Programs & Projects link at left, which will provide a list of titles for all projects underway in the NPA. The list is organized by subject according to ARS' National Programs. Click on the title link of the program you're interested in for additional information.

You can also explore products and services resulting from NPA research efforts along with reading interpretive and technical summaries of scientific publications arising from that work in our Products & Services section. This section provides a complete chronological listing of all journal articles published by NPA scientists for more than a decade, as well as brief summaries and links to a number of interactive and informative products generated from NPA research. Several of these are handy tools available for use by agricultural producers and industry, in addition to fellow researchers. Please Note: When looking for a particular publication in this section, be sure to note the search feature found at the top of the left-hand navigation bar on every page. It can help you quickly locate articles on subjects of interest to you from among the hundreds listed.

And finally, many NPA research locations provide additional information about (and products from) their individual research efforts on their local websites. Select one of the location links at right above to find out what additional information is available.

The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is the principal in-house research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Congress first authorized Federally-supported agricultural research in the Organic Act of 1862, which established what is now USDA. The scope of USDA's agricultural research programs has been expanded and extended many times since the Department was first created.

Today, ARS has about 1,200 research projects working at over 100 locations across the country and at 4 overseas laboratories. ARS research projects focus on problems of national priority and are currently divided into approximately two dozen National Programs organized under several broad categories:

Nutrition, Food Safety/Quality

Animal Production and Protection

Natural Resources and Sustainable Agricultural Systems

Crop Production and Protection

In the 8-state Northern Plains Area, ARS scientists at 14 different locations are conducting research in a wide variety of program areas, from human nutrition, to livestock genetics, and soil microbiology to sustainable agriculture.

For more detail and access to a complete list of ARS research efforts nationwide, visit the ARS National Programs web page.